Star Wars: Darkness Rising
by JJ Reeder
Summary: The Grand Republic stands strong, years after the Sith War and the Mandalorian War. However, a rising threat is growing stronger and stronger by the moment, hidden to the eyes of the Jedi.
1. Chapter 1

A shuttle emerged from hyperspace within sight of the planet L'Caar. It glided slowly toward the planet, drifting like a predator toward prey.

Veklar Kaison stepped into the control room of the Jedi Temple on L'Caar. The droid manning the station turned and saluted as Veklar entered: "Sorry to interrupt you, sir, but a shuttle has just entered the atmosphere and is headed in our direction."

Veklar rubbed his chin. "Open a commlink channel and ask the pilot the objective of their visit."

"Yes, sir," the droid replied, sitting back down in his seat and signaling the incoming shuttle.

Jedi Master Veklar had been meditating when s summons sounded on his commlink. He had arrived in the control room somewhat disgruntled, but now he was on high alert. An unannounced shuttle was most certainly out of the ordinary, and it was his duty as the Jedi Master of the Temple to make sure that there was never any danger from outside forces.

Veklar waited several moments behind the droid's chair. There was no reply from the shuttle. Maybe they were in trouble.

Veklar reached out with the Force. He couldn't feel anything. Suddenly, there was a twitch in his mind, and he felt… darkness. It was there for just a moment, and then gone, like a breath of wind. The Dark Side.

His eyes snapped open and he leaned forward to activate the Temple's inner comm system: "This is Jedi Master Veklar Kaison. There is an unauthorized and possibly dangerous shuttle approaching the Temple. All available Jedi Knights please report to the landing pad." He looked back to the commanding droid. "Lock down the Temple after I and the other Jedi exit the building."

"Sir?" said the droid, clearly confused.

"Just do it!" Veklar was already racing through the door of the control room.

"Y-yes, sir," amended the droid.

Without responding, Veklar dashed off down the passageway.

Veklar and the other Jedi stood in a semicircle, Veklar in the center, awaiting the incoming shuttle, which was now in sight. Its design was civilian, unequipped with weaponry of any kind. Judging from its appearance, the ship wasn't at all dangerous, but Veklar knew that he had not been mistaken. There was something dark on that ship, and they were about to find out what it was.

The shuttle landed, and after a moment, the shuttle's landing ramp slid down with a hiss, producing a surprising amount of steam for such a small ramp. It was impossible to see the inside of the ship. Several Jedi shifted uncomfortably and fingered their lightsaber hilts, no doubt preferring action to all this tense waiting. Veklar heartily agreed.

Out of the mist marched a figure clad in a black robe, a hood obscuring its face. The creature stared at Veklar for several seconds, eyes hidden in shadow. Then, before any of the Jedi could react, he flicked his wrist and flung his arm sideways.

The first of the Jedi didn't even know what hit them. A red lightsaber blade, spinning so fast it seemed to be a solid red circle, beheaded the Jedi closest to the Dark Lord of the Sith before they could react. Veklar, sensing danger before the blade was thrown, backflipped out of its path, the only effect of the attack a smoldering gash in his robe. The lightsaber hadn't even touched his skin. The other Jedi were not so lucky. All but four out of the original fourteen acted too slow and were cut to pieces by the flying saber.

After completing its circular trajectory, the Sith caught his lightsaber with ease and held it in ready position. The powerful darkness was no longer disguised, but sliced through the peaceful flow of the Force on L'Caar like a knife. The four Jedi activated their lightsabers along with Veklar, ready for anything.

The Sith seemed unperturbed by the fact that he was outnumbered five to one. Then Veklar saw why. He wasn't outnumbered. Four more Sith, presumably the Dark Lord's apprentices, appeared, stepping out of the mist like shadows. They took their places beside their master and activated their lightsabers.

After a tense moment, the five Sith charged, each choosing a separate Jedi. The Sith Lord came for Veklar, no doubt sensing his prowess in the Force.

Their lightsabers clashed, sending sparks flying.

Veklar shoved the Sith back with an exertion in the Force, barely budging him, but creating just enough unbalance so that Veklar could backflip away. He landed lightly on his feet and brought his blade up just in time to save himself from a flurry of powerful blows initiated by the Sith. Then he took a turn on the offensive, but not recklessly as the Sith had. He was only feeling his opponent out. He stepped back, ready for the next attack.

He saw that two Jedi and one Sith had fallen, the victors now fought. The other pair was still locked in combat.

The Sith Lord did not attack Veklar with his lightsaber as the Jedi expected, but instead sent a branch of forked lightning at the Jedi Master. Veklar was immobilized with pain for a moment, but then managed to get his blade into the path of the dark energy. The lightning stopped zapping him, and instead branched out around him, whirling like a cyclone. Veklar angled the blade with precision, and the lightning shot back at the Sith.

It enveloped the Dark Lord for a moment, but then the crackling energy was terminated by the Sith, and Veklar rose from a crouch. The Jedi attacked with a vengeance, driving the Sith back a couple of steps, and then blasting him back several meters more. The Sith somersaulted backward though the air and landed on his feet, sliding back a couple more meters before coming to a halt.

During this small interim, Veklar saw, over the shoulder of the Sith, the last Jedi being viscously run through the back. He didn't only see it, he felt it. He could feel the blade sliding through his fellow Jedi's body, the white-hot blade melting flesh.

Hopelessness filled him, not for himself, but for the younglings in the Temple. They would be massacred. They would be massacred because the rest of the Jedi responsible for them had not done their one and only job: keep them safe.

The Sith cautiously surrounded him, circling like marine predators, about to strike. Then all four attacked simultaneously. Veklar tried to flip out of their midst, but he was flung to the ground with the Force. He raised his lightsaber to defend himself against the nearest apprentice, but he misjudged the timing fractionally. His hand fell to the duracrete, his lightsaber along with it. The pain was horrible, but Veklar fought to stay conscious. He wanted to look the Sith Lord in the eyes as he died.

The Sith closed in, forming a circle that grew smaller and smaller, like a noose. How ironic. The Sith Lord laughed. "You have failed Jedi. And you are just the beginning." He raised his lightsaber. Then he brought down the blade and ended Veklar's life.

Lord Kacius stared down at the body of Veklar for a moment. This Jedi had had no fear. He had not been afraid of pain nor death, and he did not seem to resent that fact that he was about to die. It seemed he had simply considered it as a necessary part of life. He admired him for that.

Very few people were truly fearless, and this man had been. Sith fed off the fear of their opponents, and this man left no weakness to be seen. He was a worthy adversary. The Sith Lord would have preferred to call off his apprentices and defeat the Jedi one on one. Even some Sith had honor, but he had more important things to attend to.

He turned to his apprentices. "Search every inch of the grounds. Let no one escape." He turned to leave, but then added as an afterthought: "If you find any cameras, memory banks, or transmitters, destroy them. We cannot allow the Jedi to visit and discover the truth."

Bowing, the apprentices said as one: "Yes, Lord Kacius." Then they started off to the Temple.

Satisfied that his orders would be obeyed, Darth Kacius returned to the shuttle to inform the others of his success.

He walked over to the long-range holotransmitter and activated it, waiting several seconds for the device to find a connection.

After a few moments, a hologram of the collective Sith Lords Darth Malthus, Darth Maeden, and Darth Shyanaa appeared. Maeden was of the Sith species, and like Kacius, preferred to wear his hood up. Shyanaa, a female human, had been beautiful before becoming a Sith, but when she had, the beauty faded from her face and had been replaced by a mask of hatred, and bloodless, bone-white malice. Her appearance gave even the darkest soul a pang of fear. Darth Malthus, the most powerful of them all, was a human who tended to retreat deep into himself to think of deep, philosophical things that seemed worthless at the time, but somehow always managed to come in handy. He was somewhat of a philosopher, but when fighting was involved, he was unstoppable.

Darth Maeden spoke first, his voice a raspy drawl: "Have you captured the Temple, Lord Kacius?"

"I have. It was as we expected. The Jedi were not prepared for an attack of any scale."

"We have been waiting quite a while for you to call," said Darth Shyanaa. Her voice smooth, and not at all fitting to her face. "We were beginning to hope… Oops." She had obviously slipped on purpose, as her smirk made clear. "I mean, we were beginning to fear the worst."

Sith Lords were, and always would be, rivals. The only reason they were working together was to restore, at least to some extent, the Sith Empire that Lord Vitiate had created. The Empire had been completely destroyed by the Republic in the few years after Vitiate's fall. The Sith were now spread across the galaxy. It had been pure happenstance, or by the will of the Force, that they had met. It was a known fact that once the Empire had been restored, there would be an all-out battle to determine who would be the leader.

"I ran into a Jedi Master," Kacius said, ignoring the comment by Shyanaa. "That is why I didn't call sooner."

Malthus' slow, deep, booming voice entered into the conversation: "I am currently en route to Dromund Kaas now. There we will convene and decide what our next course of action should be."

"Agreed," said Kacius. "I will depart as soon as my apprentices return from destroying the Temple."

Darth Shyanaa grinned. "Be sure you don't run into another Jedi Master. I don't fancy waiting that long again."

Darth Kacius ended the transmission, gritting his teeth and trying to ignore Darth Shyanaa. Then he left the ship to aid his apprentices. As he walked by the body of the fallen Jedi Master, he again felt respect, but also disgust. It was people such as he who had torn apart the Sith Empire, and it was people like him who would receive the revenge against those who had lived before him. This Jedi, under the right circumstances, would have made a magnificent Sith. Darth Kacius shook his head. Circumstances rarely fell in the way most needed. The best one could do was continue.


	2. chapter 2

_A brother's bond is strong, it always has been, and it always will be. One brother's sorrow is the other's; one's pain shared; one's strengths becomes the other's._ _~Gwin Stardom_

As padawans, the brothers served their master well. And although Jedi almost always chose a single apprentice, Ky and Gwin might as well have been one person. They acted together, learned together, and if one struggled, the other would stand by his side until the task was conquered.

As knights, they were held to be the best in the order: strong, courageous, and always willing to help those who could not help themselves. They were inseparable, and although one may have been immensely powerful on his own, together, they were unstoppable. None, not even a Sith Lord, could stand in their way. Together, they had carved a path of peace and prosperity throughout the galaxy.

When they became masters, the bond lessened slightly as they were often separated throughout the years, but it still held strong. When a Jedi Master resigned from the Council, and Ky, the eldest, was offered the position. He declined, saying that he would not serve on the Jedi Council unless his brother was part of the council too. Gwin did not approve of his brother's decision, but Ky's resolve held nevertheless. Several years later, a civil war broke out on Mandalore. Two members of the Jedi Council were killed. Gwin and Ky were the obvious choice to replace them, and so they became the two new members of the Council.

Jedi Temple:

Coruscant…

A Jedi shuttle dipped low over the overpopulated surface of Coruscant. It came to a stop above the permacrete marching ground in front of the Jedi Temple.

The Temple, a quintuple-towered masterpiece of architecture, was framed by the single setting sun, and towered above the surrounding superstructures. Two Jedi lept the remaining couple of meters to the ground from the shuttle, and the ship lifted back off into the sky, its three wings reflecting the light of the near-setting sun.

The two Jedi marched, hands clasped behind their backs, in the direction of the Jedi Temple, conversing along the way.

"It's been a while since we discovered another Sith as powerful as that one," commented Ky.

Gwin frowned and looked at his brother. "Yes, and I hope we never will again. The Sith must be stopped, and it disturbs me greatly that we are finding overwhelming evidence for, and not against, their continued existence. I sense we have only begun to scratch the surface of what they have planned."

Recently abandoned ancient Sith fortresses, Sith lightsaber burns on corpses, and unexplained Jedi deaths were evidence enough that the Sith were still active in resisting the Grand Republic. And recently, several less experienced Sith had appeared randomly throughout the galaxy to plague the Republic and its citizens. They had been dealt with, but only a day before, on the planet of Korriban, a Sith Lord had appeared. He had attacked the Stardom's combined troops and had dealt considerable damage before being defeated by Ky and Gwin themselves. It was very disturbing, and they were going directly to meet with the rest Council to discuss what action they should take, or be prepared to take if the worst came to pass. Dealing with Sith was dangerous, and Gwin had the feeling that these isolated attacks were only the beginning of something none of them could yet comprehend.

Jedi Council Chamber:

Jedi Temple:

Coruscant…

The Council meeting was grim. They all recognized the rising threat as something to be concerned about. None of the Council members had lived during the days of the Sith Empire, but the dark truths recorded in the Jedi Archives gave them all reason for worry. Everyone agreed that the Empire could not rise again. However, they were split about how to deal with the impending issue.

"I believe that we should multiply the production of clones," said Master Utthr, an Ithorian, through his vocoder. "If we are not prepared for an imminent attack, then we are sitting ducks, unable to defend ourselves." Several murmured in agreement, while the rest remained silent.

"There is no reason to add to our arsenal of soldiers until we can reach a conclusion as to how large the threat is," said Grand Master Kendall Brun. Master Brun sat hunched forward in thought, his elbows resting on his knees, his hands steepled. As he spoke, he made small gestures with his hands. The former master of Ky and Gwin was a middle-aged man with shoulder-length graying hair and a deeply wrinkled forehead, which was wrinkled even further due to the arguing among his fellow Jedi. "We already are struggling to find space to keep our army," he added. "If we were to boost the production of the clones, there would be nowhere to keep the excess of soldiers." He took a deep breath and leaned back into his chair. "No. Increasing the proportions of our military is not yet necessary, but in the event of an attack, it will be considered."

Nala Jari, a twi'lek spoke up next: "Master, shall we simply sit here and mind our own business and hope they do not attack? Surely, we need to do something to prepare ourselves for the assault that is obviously coming! We need to be ready; we need to know what dangers are on the horizon."

"I agree," broke in Ky. "But we need to be aware of other matters than this. If we slack from our other duties, then civil wars could erupt from planets that we are not keeping under close scrutiny. I say we need to divide our devotions to such things wisely. If we do not do this, then one or the other shall get out of control."

"Very wise, Ky," the Grand Master said, while others nodded with approval.

Nala Jari, her vigor subdued somewhat by the majority agreeing with Ky's plan, seemed to regain some of her composure. "But we need as many Jedi as possible to find out if the Sith Empire is returning."

"Correct," agreed Gwin. "But my brother is also right in that if we leave certain systems unattended, dangerous circumstances could form."

"I suppose you are right…" conceded Nala, "but I do think we are underestimating the severity of our situation. The Sith Empire has had decades to reform itself and gather its own army. If we do not act in accordance with how dangerous this threat could be, then they could overwhelm us before we even realized what happened. What if they have recruited Mandalore or another such system again?"

This question caused uncomfortable glances to be exchanged between the masters. The Mandalorian War had occurred during the reign of Emperor Vitiate, the all-powerful ruler who had sucked the life from an entire planet and left the surface entirely desolate. He had convinced the Mandalorians to join him in his war against the Jedi and had almost succeeded. The Mandalorian War was remembered as one of the most violent wars the Republic had seen.

Haluk Haro, a human full of wisdom, spoke: "The only reason the Mandalorians fought with the Empire was because the Emperor used the persuasions of the Force on their leader, Mandalore. Therefore, unless there is another Sith as powerful as Darth Vitiate, that occurrence is highly unlikely."

"But what if there _is_ another Sith like him?" questioned Nala Jari.

"We would have felt him through the Force," Haluk responded, as if he had already prepared the argument. "Besides, unlike the years before the Great Hyperspace War and the Mandalorian War, we now have annual sweeps of the Outer Rim. They could not have missed an entire army. Also, Jedi of the highest rank often escort these sweeps, there is no way that we could have missed another Sith with the former Emperor's mastery of the Dark Side. No. Vitiate was one of a kind."

There was a long silence after the Master spoke. After about a minute or so of sorting the words out, most of the Masters of the Council seemed to realize that Master Haluk was correct. There was no way the sweeps had missed something of this magnitude, either in the Force, or the military might strong enough to withstand the Grand Army of the Republic.

A moment of deep concentration on Gwin's part, and he could not find a single flaw in Master Kaluk's reasoning. He came to a decision. "All in favor of an equalized approach divided between discovering the danger of the Empire's return and keeping the peace, say 'Aye.'"

All but Master Jari and Master Utthr responded with an 'Aye' immediately. But after seeing that they were largely outnumbered, the remaining masters grudgingly added their 'Ayes' as well.

"It is decided then," said Grand Master Brun. "We will begin to implement the plan at our earliest opportunity."


End file.
